You are currently viewing the old forums. We have upgraded to a new NFL Forum. This old forum is being left as a read-only archive.
Please update your bookmarks to our new forum at forums.footballsfuture.com.

Under the terms of his season-long suspension for his role in New Orleans' bounty program, coach Sean Payton is not allowed to have any contact with the Saints organization or anyone around the NFL, and if he does, must report it to league executive Ray Anderson, a source familiar with the suspension tells ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

John Barr of ESPN reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana recently was told that Saints general manager Mickey Loomis “had an electronic device in his Superdome suite that had been secretly re-wired to enable him to eavesdrop on visiting coaching staffs for nearly three NFL seasons.”

Generally citing unnamed “sources,” Barr claims that the device was installed in 2000, when Randy Mueller served as G.M. of the Saints. It was used at the time to monitor game-day communications involving the Saints’ coaching staff. Barr contends that, after Loomis took over, “the electronic device was re-wired to listen only to opposing coaches and could no longer be used to listen to any game-day communications between members of the Saints coaching staff.”

The device allegedly was used during the 2002, 2003, and 2004 seasons.

Wow! How many draft picks will this cost them? Hopefully, a lot._________________However, you're right that it did improve a bit. I'm just not sure I trust our coaching staff to develop offensive lineman.

Ive heard enough, If true just take away all their draft picks and the superbowl win. whats next to come out? maybe the bribing of Refs to not throw flags unless it takes away vikings touchdowns... i wont watch the replay ever again but i know i would easily convince myself of that if i did watch it.......

Vilma doesn't surprise me, their DL takes a bit of a hit. Most likely all will be appealed, I doubt any chance will come for Vilma's, but I could see all the rest having a game or two knocked off of them._________________

Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has confessed to administering a bounty system, accepting without appeal his indefinite suspension. When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell considers Williams’ request for reinstatement after the season, Goodell “will give close attention to the extent to which Coach Williams cooperates with the NFL in any further proceedings.”

Given that both Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and Saints defensive end Will Smith have strongly denied funding the bounty pool, testimony from Williams regarding the NFL’s assertion that Vilma and Smith “assisted” Williams with the establishment and funding of the bounty pool will go a long way toward confirming the NFL’s position via the appeal process.

For Williams, that’s a problem. He can’t return to the NFL unless he cooperates with “further proceedings,” but if that cooperation consists of testifying against his players in New Orleans, players in St. Louis or elsewhere may be even less inclined to respond to him.

Scott Fujita (now with the Cleveland Browns) is suspended without pay for the first three games of the 2012 regular season. The record established that Fujita, a linebacker, pledged a significant amount of money to the prohibited pay-for-performance/bounty pool during the 2009 NFL Playoffs when he played for the Saints. The pool to which he pledged paid large cash rewards for “cart-offs” and “knockouts,” plays during which an opposing player was injured.

Defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove (now with the Green Bay Packers) is suspended without pay for the first eight games of the 2012 regular season. Hargrove actively participated in the program while a member of the Saints. Hargrove submitted a signed declaration to the league that established not only the existence of the program at the Saints, but also that he knew about and participated in it. The evidence showed that Hargrove told at least one player on another team that Vikings quarterback Brett Favre was a target of a large bounty during the NFC Championship Game in January of 2010. Hargrove also actively obstructed the league’s 2010 investigation into the program by being untruthful to investigators.

Will Smith of the Saints is suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2012 regular season. Smith, a defensive end, assisted Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in establishing and funding the program during a period in which he was a captain and leader of the defensive unit. Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Smith pledged significant sums to the program pool for “cart-offs” and “knockouts” of opposing players.

Linebacker Jonathan Vilma of the Saints is suspended without pay for the 2012 NFL season, effective immediately per league policy for season-long suspensions. The investigation concluded that while a captain of the defensive unit Vilma assisted Coach Williams in establishing and funding the program. Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Vilma offered a specific bounty -- $10,000 in cash – to any player who knocked Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner out of the 2009 Divisional Playoff Game and later pledged the same amount to anyone who knocked Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre out of the 2009 NFC Championship Game the following week (played on January 24, 2010). Vilma is eligible to be reinstated after the Super Bowl in 2013.